Improvement in retorts for distilling coal-oil



M. HODKlNSON.

Coal Oi'l Retort.

No. 26,326. Patented Nov. 29, 1 859.

N. PETERS. muse m. vimm DJ;

UNITED STATES PATENT O F CE.

MATTHEW HODKINSON, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO M.

HODKINSON, JR, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN RETORTS FOR DISTILLINGCOALQOIL.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 26,326, dated November 29, 1859.

To all, whout it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MATTHEW HoDKINsoN, of the city of Pittsburg', county of Allegheny, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Constructionof Retorts for the Manufacture of Coal- Oil, 8m; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in Which Figure 1 is an end view of the retort, and Fig. 2 is a horizontal projection of the interior, arrangement and gearing of the said machine.

The nature of my invention consists in placing a revolving shaft longitudinally through to make and use myinvention, I Will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A metallic or other cylinder of convenient dimensions--say eight feet long by four feet diameter--is constructed and placed permanently in its bed over a furnace, the. upper part or top of the cylinder being so made as to open or to be removed for the purpose of receiving the coal from which the oil is to be extracted. A revolving shaft, A, Fig. 2, passes longitudinally through the center of the cylinder, one end of which, a, Fig. 2, rests against one of the cylinder-heads, while the opposite end, A, Fig. 2, passes through the other head and projects beyond it, and is terminated by and armed with a cog-wheel, a, Fig. 2. A shaft, D, Fig. 2, properly supported and driven, is armed with cog-wheels d, Fig. 2, which mesh into the cogs of the Wheel 0 of the cylinder-shaft and impart motion to it. The cylinder-shaft A hasfastened f charge and draw. The gas is permit-tedto.

escape through an aperture in the upper end i of the cylinder and over the man-head, and 1 this is an improvement on the revolving cylf inder or retort, becausejthe oil is less impreg.

nated with dust or small particles of coke, and

the aperture is less liable tobe filled or choked f up with the same.

The operation of themachine is as follows, 5

the sections of two retorts being shown in g 2: The retort being charged with coal, power is applied to the shaft D, and communicated to the shaft A, which revolves, and the knives break up the coal, and by the application of j heat the oil is given out freely and the gas evolved. By this arrangement and operation the coal is removed from the surface. toward the center of the retort, thus subjectingit f more equally to theheat of i the furnace,;and

by so doing the gas is readily and thoroughly evolved, yielding all the oily matter-in a shorter time and by aless degree of heatfgiving the oil a better color and s1nell,scorching it less, and saving a large amount of fuel.

I do not claim theuse ofa shaft armed with agitators within a retort; but

What I do claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The stationary retort with a shaftarmed f with knives whose edges are at right angles with the shaft passing through it,-by wl1ich,

when motion is givento the shaft, the coal is q broken and pulverized more effectuallyand more economically than by any other method.

MIATIHEW HOD KINSONJ In presence of- NICHOLAS K. WADE,

ORLANDO MEroALF. 

